Recording Audio for Film/Video

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I live in the Pasadena area and I get a good amount of calls to do sound
recording for video. I have done a couple of these gigs but I have no
equipment which is where the real money is.

I know generally what I'm gonna need to get if I start doing this but I
could use some advice on the specifics.

1. Portable DAT w/ timecode. Any good value options here?

2. Couple of telescoping booms. Where do I get these?

3. Small Mackie Mixer

4. A sturdy cart with wheels

5. Several lavalier mics with transmitters and reciever(s). This is where
I'm really in the dark. What system can support several wireless mics
without frequency overlap and won't cost me an arm and a leg? How many
outputs from the reciever will there be?

6. I have a pretty extensive mic collection to go on the booms. What works
best for a boom application?

If I am missing anything please fill me in. Is my DAT w/ time code recorder
gonna be in sync with the video during recording? How does that work?

Thanks for any help on this.

Neil R

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Neil, if you are in Pasadena, go over to Location Sound in North
Hollywood... They are on Riverside near Lankersheim... They are one of the
major sales places for this kind of gear in LA.

Beyond that, listen to Scott's advice... :-)

--Ben

--
Benjamin Maas
Fifth Circle Audio
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

Please remove "Nospam" from address for replies

"Neil Rutman" <neilrutman@bigfoot.com> wrote in message ...
>I live in the Pasadena area and I get a good amount of calls to do sound
>recording for video. I have done a couple of these gigs but I have no
>equipment which is where the real money is.
>
> I know generally what I'm gonna need to get if I start doing this but I
> could use some advice on the specifics.
>
> 1. Portable DAT w/ timecode. Any good value options here?
>
> 2. Couple of telescoping booms. Where do I get these?
>
> 3. Small Mackie Mixer
>
> 4. A sturdy cart with wheels
>
> 5. Several lavalier mics with transmitters and reciever(s). This is where
> I'm really in the dark. What system can support several wireless mics
> without frequency overlap and won't cost me an arm and a leg? How many
> outputs from the reciever will there be?
>
> 6. I have a pretty extensive mic collection to go on the booms. What works
> best for a boom application?
>
> If I am missing anything please fill me in. Is my DAT w/ time code
> recorder gonna be in sync with the video during recording? How does that
> work?
>
> Thanks for any help on this.
>
> Neil R
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> The big question here is what kind of work are you doing and how much does
> it pay right now? This will let you determine what you should buy and
> what you should rent.

There is a current hot topic on rec.arts.movies.production.sound
about "Elimidate" offering $200/day (where day = 10 hours).
Keep in mind they are assuming that you already *own* all the
equipment and are bringing it with you (and likely insuring it too)
within that budget. Needless to say, the professionals over there
are decrying this trend.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Richard Crowley <rcrowley7@xprt.net> wrote:
>> The big question here is what kind of work are you doing and how much does
>> it pay right now? This will let you determine what you should buy and
>> what you should rent.
>
>There is a current hot topic on rec.arts.movies.production.sound
>about "Elimidate" offering $200/day (where day = 10 hours).
>Keep in mind they are assuming that you already *own* all the
>equipment and are bringing it with you (and likely insuring it too)
>within that budget. Needless to say, the professionals over there
>are decrying this trend.

The post guys think it's great. The post guys are raking in money hand
over fist, fixing up and looping over tracks made by the kids these
productions bring in. Save ten bucks on the set, spend a hundred in post.
Sounds great to me.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Richard Crowley wrote:
>>The big question here is what kind of work are you doing and how much does
>>it pay right now? This will let you determine what you should buy and
>>what you should rent.
>
>
> There is a current hot topic on rec.arts.movies.production.sound
> about "Elimidate" offering $200/day (where day = 10 hours).
> Keep in mind they are assuming that you already *own* all the
> equipment and are bringing it with you (and likely insuring it too)
> within that budget. Needless to say, the professionals over there
> are decrying this trend.
>
>


They'll get what they pay for, most likely a very budget production.
IME that pay is quite low. I just got off a 3 month reality show shoot
and while I was the video engineer this time many friends worked as ENG
audio mixers and made quite a bit over 200/day(more than 2x that). The
audio supervisor made more over that. The only piece of gear they owned
was the harness to carry the mixers/rf receivers.

Brian

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Neil Rutman" <neilrutman@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:TMOdnaJIk6w_Vz3cRVn-1w@speakeasy.net...
>I live in the Pasadena area and I get a good amount of calls to do sound
>recording for video. I have done a couple of these gigs but I have no
>equipment which is where the real money is.
>
> I know generally what I'm gonna need to get if I start doing this but I
> could use some advice on the specifics.
>
> 1. Portable DAT w/ timecode. Any good value options here?
>
> 2. Couple of telescoping booms. Where do I get these?
>
> 3. Small Mackie Mixer
>
> 4. A sturdy cart with wheels
>
> 5. Several lavalier mics with transmitters and reciever(s). This is where
> I'm really in the dark. What system can support several wireless mics
> without frequency overlap and won't cost me an arm and a leg? How many
> outputs from the reciever will there be?
>
> 6. I have a pretty extensive mic collection to go on the booms. What works
> best for a boom application?
>
> If I am missing anything please fill me in. Is my DAT w/ time code
> recorder gonna be in sync with the video during recording? How does that
> work?
>
> Thanks for any help on this.
>
> Neil R


Hi. I have been doing location sound for film and television for a lot of
years now, and this is what I use for the vast majority of work.

1 - Mixer. SQN4s. It has four inputs at powered mic (48 v phantom, T
powering) or line level.
2 - Mic. Neumann RSM190 stereo shotgun. Works either L/R stereo, or M&S
3 - Boom. Many of these available from many sources
4 - 2 Radio mics. Microns with Sony lavelier mics, or you can plug in any
non powered mic to the transmitter.
5 - A decent pair of headphones. I use Bayer Dynamics DT48. Heavy but the
best (the original cans)
6 - DAT recorder Fostex PD4 with T/C. I only use with film as doubling up
simultaneously with the video camera is not normally required.

Items 2 to 5 are carried around in a bag which also has an NP1 battery to
power up the whole lot. It allows you to be in a go situation in seconds,
ideal for news gathering situations

Hope this helps

Peter

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Karl Winkler <karlwinkler66@yahoo.com> wrote:
>kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in message news:<cnql1s$pq6$1@panix3.panix.com>...
>> Neil Rutman <neilrutman@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >5. Several lavalier mics with transmitters and reciever(s). This is where
>> >I'm really in the dark. What system can support several wireless mics
>> >without frequency overlap and won't cost me an arm and a leg? How many
>> >outputs from the reciever will there be?
>>
>> You will pay an arm and a leg. Sonosax and Zaxcom would be my first two
>> recommendations. Vega if you can't afford it. If you just get a pair of
>> them, you can rent others when you need them. All of this stuff is very
>> readily rented.
>
>Scott, you mean *Lectrosonics* rather than Sonosax, right? I didn't
>think that Sonosax made wireless, and I double checked their web site
>to be certain.

I did. Too little sleep and too much gamelan.

>>
>> >6. I have a pretty extensive mic collection to go on the booms. What works
>> >best for a boom application?
>>
>> The tightest hypercardioid you can find. The Schoeps is a good one. You
>> want tight and you want clean off-axis response most of the time.
>
>Also the Sennheiser MKH50 and the Neumann KM150 are often used. But
>Scott is right, the Schoeps is generally the number one choice.

The MK50 is definitely quieter than the Schoeps, and it's a lot less subject
to problems in very humid environments. But it has some slight weirdness
in the lower midrange in comparison to the Schoeps, which really doesn't make
much of a difference for this kind of work.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."